UMVA has learned that an Iraqi national arrested overseas faces terrorism-related charges in the United States for allegedly plotting more than a dozen attacks targeting Jews in Europe and North America, including two in Toronto, in support of Iran-backed terrorist organizations.
The complaint unsealed Friday in federal court in Manhattan names Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al‑Saadi as an operative of Kata'ib Hezbollah and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. and Canada. He is accused of involvement in nearly twenty attacks and attempted attacks on ambulances, schools and synagogues since the war on Iran began on February 28.
One of the alleged synagogue attacks was coordinated in Toronto, a city that has seen numerous such assaults. Al‑Saadi also allegedly plotted the shooting of the U.S. consulate on University Avenue in Toronto on March 10, which struck a building with people inside but caused no injuries.
The complaint claims Al‑Saadi directed others to target U.S. and Israeli interests, urging the killing of Americans and Jews to advance the goals of Kata'ib Hezbollah and the IRGC. He is said to have posted harassing social media images, including one of the U.S. Capitol in ruins, paired with slogans of revenge for the deaths of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al‑Muhandis.
According to the filing, Al‑Saadi has also called for “warriors of Islam” to engage in jihad and posted videos of attacks. He is alleged to have orchestrated an explosives attack on an American bank in Amsterdam on March 15, an arson at a synagogue in Skopje on April 12, and a stabbing that injured two Jewish men, including a dual U.S.-British citizen, in London on April 29.
In a desperate bid to carry out further violence, Al‑Saadi reportedly tried to hire a Mexican cartel member—later revealed to be an undercover FBI agent—to strike prominent synagogues in New York City and Jewish institutions in Los Angeles and Scottsdale for $10,000, a scheme that led to his arrest.
He faces a range of related charges that have yet to be tried in court. At his first appearance, he was not required to enter a plea and remains in solitary confinement awaiting his next hearing.
The case underscores the relentless pursuit of foreign terrorist operatives by U.S. law enforcement, with officials describing the arrest as a decisive blow against a network that seeks to sow terror across the globe.
